


Habitual Habits

by SerendipitousSong



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Breaking habits, Cheek Biting, Heart-to-Heart, Miko is a Good Friend, More Cheek Biting, Nail Biting, People Watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3404438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerendipitousSong/pseuds/SerendipitousSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack sees Miko doing her nails, and it makes him less than proud of the state of his own nails.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Watching

**Author's Note:**

> Unedited, so beware of typos and grammar mistakes.

Jack couldn't help but stare at his new friend as she filed down her nails. They were neat, short, and black, and he could tell she took great pride in them. He glanced down at his own hands. The nails that adorned his fingertips were short and ragged. The skin at the sides was chewed and ripped, and one pinkie had a scab growing over. He decided to sit on them.

The base was quiet. Only the slight tinkling sounds of water in the pipes, the others' breathing, and Ratchet's frame creaking softly disturbed his reverie. Miko sat crisscross on the floor with her nail file. Raf was doing homework on his laptop. Jack was... well he was supposed to be doing homework as well, but he just somehow couldn't focus while Miko fixed up her nails. Instead, he sat back in the couch and watched her silently as she whispered things to herself. The sound was to soft for him to hear, even though she was almost right in front of him.

Eventually, Miko looked up and caught Jack starting at her. She smiled and waved, but he didn't wave back. He just kind of shrugged and looked away, and Miko went back to filing her nails.

Upon further observation, Jack found that Miko had a hitchhikers thumb. Watching as she bent it out backwards even farther, he gingerly pulled his hands out from underneath his butt and tried to do the same. His own thumb wouldn't bend back as far. Once again, he peeked at what she was doing, and she was filing that same thumb. Jack put his hands back underneath his butt.

When Miko was finished, she flared her hands out in front of her face and whispered, "Fabulous!" Jack bit his cheek to refrain from laughing, and when she turned so he could see her fabulous nails, he turned his head away. He was still sitting on his hands.

Miko started at Jack for a moment, then scrambled to onto the couch next to him. "Want me to do yours?"

Jack cleared his throat. "Uhm, no thanks, Miko. Not really a guyish thing. Actually it's just not even my thing. At all. And... I'd rather not."

Miko smiled back at his unsure expression, but nodded in understanding. "I gotcha, I gotcha."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief when she moved away. His hands were getting sweaty under there, but he didn't want to take them out just yet. That scab beside his pinkie was horrendous.


	2. Helpful

Miko watched Jack from the corner of her eye. When he thought she wasn't looking, he would glance at her for a split second, then turn back to his work. His hands were hidden under his lap, the laptop on his thighs. She tried not to be too obvious, but at one point they'd made eye contact that lasted too long for her liking.

Considering how they met, she couldn't blame him for being shy. While most of the girls dressed in cute skirts and ponytails in the Nevada heat, she chose to keep her leggings and boots. Even though they saw each other in autoshop, Jack never made much conversation.

Now he just wouldn't look at her. Not in the eye, at least. Only shot glances on the down low as she fixed up her fingernails. 

A prickle on her neck let her know she was being watched again. Boldly raising her head, Miko stared Jack right in the eyes and and smiled, causing him to blush and stare back, flustered. 

Miko decided to break the comfortable silence. She crawled up on the couch and gestured to Jack's hands. "Want me to do yours?" 

A flustered answer matched the embarrassment in his voice, and Miko understood why. 

"I gotcha, I gotcha."

Miko moved to the other side of the couch. When she did so, Jack visibly relaxed, his hands still underneath him. Miko glanced at Ratchet, thinking. 

"Hey Ratchet, do you 'bots have any bad habits?" 

Ratchet let out a heavy sigh, causing Miko to grin. The old 'bot dreaded every moment she spoke, and she knew it. But this time, it wasn't about her. 

It was about helping Jack with his little problem.

"Well, I can assume you all know that Bulkhead is clumsy and doesn't know the difference between scrap and my tools--" 

"There's a difference?" 

"Miko?" The large Cybertronian turned to give her a hard stare. 

"Yes Doc Bot," she giggled. 

"Be quiet." 

She grinned even wider. "Okaaayy." 

The old bot turned back to his monitor. "Arcee is a bit of a brat at times, always wanting to do her own thing. She's a bit self conscious at times as well, but she'd never say so. She doesn't appreciate criticism. Neither does Bee, but at least he accepts it. He hears what you have to say, and improves upon it, but at the same time he is so young and still makes brash decisions. The decisions of a youngling. He means well though. They all do..." Ratchet paused in his ramble, thinking. "Optimus takes everything upon himself. He is just too selfless, which in many cases is not bad in the least. But I'd recharge better at night if he'd just relax a bit."

Miko's grin got smaller and smaller as he spoke, and she became more thoughtful. "How do you help someone get rid of bad habits?"

Once again, Ratchet turned to face her. "Why do you want to know these things so badly," he queried.

With a bright, friendly smile, Miko answered, "I'm helping a good buddy of mine."

Nodding, the medic continued. "Well, having them confront their habit is a good start. They need to acknowledge its presence for them to be rid of it. Then, once they have acknowledged it, they must make a realistic plan to battle the habit they are trying to end. An accountability partner to help them stay on track is valuable." He paused to investigate a blip on the monitor. "Hmm, a mysterious energon signature." He vented in a deep sigh. "Miko, our conversation had been cut short. I hope your friend finds help." With that, Ratchet commed Optimus.

"He has," Miko said, glancing at Jack, who had been listening closely, hands crossed under his chin as he leaned forward onto them. "He has."

This time, when Jack and Miko made eye contact, it wasn't awkward.


	3. Fixed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that! I updated something! I forgot all about it but now it's done :B

_Six months later_

 

"Jack, lemme see 'em," Miko shouted. "What color are they?!"

Jack smiled a bit as he hopped off of Arcee. She transformed and sauntered to the ledge that the base's self appointed "Team Autobot Habit-Kicking Accountability Partner" was leaning off. Miko had spent a long time trying to actually earn that title, but Jack could say it had been easy for him to open up to her. Something about her loudness also radiated friendliness.

He jogged up the stairs and swung his backpack from his shoulder. "Wow, you're here early." Miko shrugged and he held out his hands. "Mom got a little too excited and... uhm... she kinda went wild with them." He laughed when his friend went bug-eyed. His fingernails were deep red with tiny silver jewels stuck unto them. And they were a good deal longer than they had been six months ago.

Miko stared for a few moments more, then took his hands and waved them at Bulkhead. "Bulk, look! Look at Jack's nails!" She turned back to stare some more. "Couldn't have done better myself."

Bulkhead ambled over lazily. "Yeah yeah, lemme get a look, then. What'd she do this time?"

Jack's smile grew a tiny bit as he answered, "Mom measured them and compared to two weeks ago, and she got all happy and stuff. So then she brought out the polish and glitter and all that--"

" _Glitter!_ Oh my bejeezus, you should've gotten some glitter, Jack."

The boy shook his head. "This is enough for me, Miko. And it's only for the weekend and then I'm taking this all off and trimming them down to a normal guyish length, got it?"

Miko giggled. "Next weekend, I'm doing your nails."

"Oh God."

Arcee, who had been watching the exchange quietly, piped up. "How about we give the kid a break, Miko -- Shut it Jack, you _are_ still a kid -- you know, since he's been pretty good about not messing up his mother's nice work? Let him have his own nails back."

The teen thought for a moment and then nodded. "True. Okay then, but next next week, can I do them? Pleeeeease?" She turned her gaze to her friend, who gave an exasperated look before  sighing and throwing his hands up in surrender. Miko pumped a fist in the air. "Yes!"

Just then, Bumblebee arrived with Raf, and the base was full of happy chatter while the same exchange happened again with the newcomers. Ratchet and Optimus stood at the console and gave each other content looks. It seemed the weekend would be a relaxing one. That is, until --

"Hey Doc Bot! Do you guys have nails I can do?"


End file.
